“Szydło is only getting the chance to be prime minister because Kaczyński was certain that she’d never break from him. It’s just the same for Duda,” said Marek Migalski, a political scientist and former MEP backed by Law and Justice who himself joined a group of party rebels and was ejected from Kaczyński’s inner circle.

Kaczyński, 66, isn’t Poland’s president and says he won’t be prime minister, a job he held in 2006-2007. But after this year’s twin successes for his right-wing party, he looks like Poland’s most powerful politician. It was Kaczyński who plucked Duda from the back benches of the European Parliament to run for president. He chose Szydło to be his party’s candidate for prime minister.

“As of Monday, Kaczyński is the king of Poland,” Migalski said.

The question in the Polish capital in the hours after an unprecedented political housecleaning is how Kaczyński will wield his power, and to what ends. His long life in politics provides a few possible answers.

Retreat to win

Say what you will, he is a political original who has experienced brief highs and frequent stumbles. He seemingly learned from both.

The former childhood film actor and Solidarity activist retains the fervent loyalty of older, rightwing stalwarts in Law and Justice, known as PiS in Poland. “Jarosław save us,” is a common cry at party rallies.

“With Jarosław Kaczyński as candidate for prime minister [we] would not be able to win the elections” — Jarosław Kaczyński

At the same time, Kaczyński is Poland’s most divisive politician. The CBOS polling organization found he was trusted by less than a third of Poles. In the previous eight years, in successive presidential and parliamentary elections, the more centrist Civic Platform party fell back on one campaign slogan: You don’t want to let Kaczyński back into power.

The scaremongering worked as long as memories stayed fresh of his short stint as prime minister in 2006-2007. His governing coalition fought bitterly and relations with Germany were terrible. The PiS government relied on secret police agencies and powerful prosecutors to track down crooks, spies, and bent businessmen that Kaczyński said ran Poland from behind the scenes.

This year, Kaczyński didn’t contest any of the leadership spots. “I understood that I have no chances for such a position,” Kaczyński said in a recent interview with the Dziennik Polski newspaper. “PiS with Jarosław Kaczyński as candidate for prime minister would not be able to win the elections. In such a situation you have to be able to retreat.”

Szydło, 52, will soon be setting up office in the pastel-yellow buildings that house Poland’s prime minister. Duda’s residence is an old aristocratic palace in the heart of the Polish capital. But the country’s real center of power may be a decrepit grey concrete office building on the edge of downtown with a pool hall in the basement. That’s where Kaczyński has his office, and where PiS has its headquarters. In an example of the power he wields, it was from that office that he decided in 2006 to fire another stand-in prime minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and to take his place.

According to people who know him, loyalty is paramount for Kaczyński. His closest relationships were with his mother, Jadwiga, who died in 2013, and his twin brother Lech, Poland’s president who died in the 2010 crash of a government airliner in Smolensk, Russia.

“His first characteristic when it comes to people is to put loyalists in key positions,” said Paweł Zalewski, a former senior member of PiS who defected to join Civic Platform.

Conflict on the path to power

The loyalty he demands from others hasn’t often been repaid. Kaczyński’s political history is littered with double-crosses and shifts of allegiance.

He helped negotiate a 1989 accord with the ruling communists that allowed for partly free elections that year and for the Solidarity labor union to form the country’s first non-communist post-war government.

Within months Kaczyński helped set off an internal war inside Solidarity between its leader Lech Wałęsa and Poland’s first post-communist prime minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki. He then turned on Wałęsa, leading fierce street opposition after Wałęsa was elected president.

Exiled into the political wilderness in the 1990s, Kaczyński alienated his old allies. He came back into the limelight when his more affable brother Lech became justice minister in 2000.

His first long march back to power culminated in 2005, when Lech was elected president and Law and Justice gained a parliamentary majority with the help of two smaller populist parties. Initially, Kaczyński promised that he would not serve as prime minister, instead appointing a little-known MP, Marcinkiewicz, to lead the government.

That lasted only nine months, before Kaczyński ousted the increasingly popular Marcinkiewicz and took the job himself.

“This will be the same situation now,” said Zalewski. “Neither Duda nor Szydło have the chance to become independent politicians.”

Kaczyński’s government collapsed in 2007 in a tangle of corruption allegations levied against one of his coalition partners.

How will Kaczyński wield power, and to what end?

Since then he has bid his time, planning his return. He built an alliance with the nationalist right wing of the Roman Catholic Church. He strengthened PiS’s support among those who felt left out by Poland’s dramatic economic transformation. He also pruned Law and Justice, crushing at least three rebellions in the last eight years and ruthlessly culling anyone who was disloyal. Every MP was put on the party lists with Kaczyński’s approval.

It’s not easy to divine his ambitions for what to do with power. Kaczyński has never shown much interest in economics. His foreign policy has largely been limited to ensuring that Poland is respected as a serious European power. He personally hasn’t spelled out much of a program at all. His motivations often seem more personal than political, tied to his brother’s death and the need to seek Lech’s rehabilitation. Some Polish analysts say the party wants to carry through an ambitious transformation, by constitutional means if possible, of Poland from a European liberal country to a solidly nationalist, Christian one.

Seeking revenge for a tragic death

One clear immediate aim was achieved: To oust the hated Civic Platform party, until recently led by his onetime ally turned bitter enemy Donald Tusk, now president of the European Council.

“Removing the current government from power is my primary patriotic duty,” he said in the newspaper interview.

His disdain for Tusk was heightened by the Smolensk air disaster, which investigators have blamed on undertrained pilots trying to land the plane in dense fog. Kaczyński and his supporters accuse Tusk and his government of complicity in a cover up.

“In a political sense you bear 100 percent of the responsibility for the catastrophe,” Kaczyński told Tusk in parliament in 2012.

Kaczyński and his lieutenant, Antoni Macierewicz, are likely to unleash the full power of the state to find those they deem guilty of Lech’s death.

“Of course there will be revenge,” said Migalski.

“In a political sense you bear 100 percent of the responsibility for the [Smolensk] catastrophe” — Kaczyński to Tusk, 2012

Speaking before a delirious crowd of supporters after voting ended Sunday night, Kaczyński didn’t talk about policies and projects. He talked about his brother. “Mr. President, mission accomplished,” said Kaczyński, close to tears.

Lech’s death, and his mother’s passing shortly after that, left Kaczyński alone. He has few friends and has never married. His closest companion is his cat, Fiona. Politics “limited the circle of people I meet, although I’ve never been very sociable,” he told the Dziennik. “That group of friends slowly shrank and crumbled away because I was too busy … It’s my job. For 20 or 30 years I’ve done nothing else.” He still remembers his brother’s mobile phone number and said he feels the need to talk to Lech “several times a day.”

Michał Krzymowski, the author of a new book, “The Secrets of Jarosław Kaczyński,” said in an interview with the Onet portal, “Kaczyński is a secretive figure, a closed person, a loner who doesn’t open up in front of others.”

And his trust in Szydło? It’s high, but not absolute.

“If Beata Szydło is a good prime minister, then she’ll rule for four years,” was the qualified comment from Kaczyński to Polish television before the election. If that’s not the case, he added, “the interest of Poland is what’s important.”

When voting ended Sunday and the exit polls showed a PiS rout, it was Kaczyński who made the first speech celebrating the victory, only turning to Szydło after a few minutes. When he did so, he addressed her as “Madame Chairwoman” (a reference to her party rank) and not “Prime Minister.”

Related stories on these topics:

knight

Mr. Cienski office is at Czerska St, in the pants of Adam Michnik. Mr. Cienski also forgot that Jaroslaw Kaczynski started the Second World War with his attack on the Gleiwitz station. At the time of the outbreak of the World War Two, Mr Cienski’s boss, Mr. Michnik, was assuring the whole world community that he had only piece in his heart while cabling his friends in the international press about the heinous attack on the Gleiwitz station by Mr Kaczynski. Cienski, a faithful lieutenant of the hate machine.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 8:30 AM CET

agnieszka

You do realize that you are quoting someone that was plucked by Mr. Kaczynski and when tried to start his own political group has failed miserably ? All in all, quite amusing to have pick Mr Migalski who is known for having failed to predict correctly outcomes of all recent elections in Poland.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 10:30 AM CET

agx

Mr.Krzymowski – the journalist who revives dead people in his articles. Simply – a liar.
Zaleski – former member of Law and Justice, then he passed to Civic Platform. He was kicked out Civic Platform, too.
Marek Migalski – doctor of politicial scientists, former member of Law and Justice. He left because he wanted his own party. None of his politician predictions is working. Sometimes he bored viewers on TV. Recently he wrote an erotic novel about MEPs . Novel was unable for reading , too.
All of them don’t like Law and Justice and Kaczynski.
Why did you quote statements only opponents of Kaczynski/Szydlo/Duda/Law and Justice ?

Posted on 10/27/15 | 10:38 AM CET

Steve

If Poland is smart it will get out of the imploding EU before the Islamic invasion-hordes are directed east by the Eurocrat traitors. Much better to form a Carpathian group with the V4 and other willing and sane nations, free of Brussels-Berlin dictates forever.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 10:49 AM CET

Toczynska Zofia

Merely Polish king – what does it means comparing with Donald Tusk, the king of Europe, adored by all, perhaps only with the exception of the Poles who dared to vote for Kaczynski’party!

Posted on 10/27/15 | 11:22 AM CET

knight

Cienski carefully picks his sources: all have to be anti-Law and Justice. For Cienski and Michnik there is no absolute truth, all is contextual. Take for example Mr. Giertych. Mr. Giertych was once a coalition partner in the 2005 Law and Justice party. Back then, he was branded by Cienski and the like as a fascist and a danger to democracy. A lot of words were printed to prove that point. Now Mr. Giertych is no longer friends with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, so he has become a friend of Mr Michnik. Now Mr. Giertych is no longer a fascist, according to Cienski and the like. Now, he is an expert on Kaczynski.

The same concerns Michal Kaminski, when he was in Law and Justice he was branded as a fascist by Mr. Cienski. Recently, Michal Kaminski has been in charge of the Platforma election campaign and he even got himself elected to the parliament in last Sunday’s election as Platforma’s candidate. Therefore, Michal Kaminski is no longer a fascist according to Mr Cienski and the like. Now, he is a true democrat.

So it is basically a Stalinist approach in the service of the capital. One day you can be branded as a fascist, another day you can be rebranded as a communist again. Obviously, you have to pay for this rebranding with your integrity, but there are also gains. Cienski also practises a typically Leninst approach to politics, inherited from Adam Michnik: convictions do not matter as long as people are useful and create a revolutionary moment to gain more power and money.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 12:00 PM CET

knight

To conclude, Giertych and Kaminski have never been fascists and they are not experts on Kaczynski no. It is not important for Cienski who they were and who they are, what is important is how to muddle the picture to help his master payers.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 12:06 PM CET

Knight bis

I have become accustomed to Mr. Cienski’s articles to present a certain point of view, not at all sympathetic to the patriotic winds sweeping across Poland – winds of change which are responsible for electing a solid conservative majority into Parliament and the office of the President.
I have even become accustomed to Mr. Cienski’s not very subtle manipulation of the new political landscape by selectively quoting only unsympathetic sources to present his certain point of view, pretending to balance his pieces at the precipice of journalism and political opinion.
What I fail to grasp, however, why Politico fails to apply the principles of journalism in accepting Mr. Cienski’s works. Is it simply ignorance of the political landscape in Poland, or journalistic laziness?

If the latest polling is confirmed, the result would give Law and Justice 232 seats in the 460-member lower house of parliament.He left because he wanted his own party.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 2:09 PM CET

KalifPago

you couldn’t have picked a worse photo of Kaczynski….I mean come on, he is definitely NOT my first choice but still…for the sake of decency and objectivity or have these become just empty soundbites…

with those handpicked and clearly unfavourable pics no words are needed…next time, save yourself and us the readers the time and just copy & paste the photos…after all, don’t you in your language have a saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words?

Posted on 10/27/15 | 3:49 PM CET

karo

Smear piece.
Check your sources and maybe write an article that provides more than one point of view. Politico, you’re a joke.

Posted on 10/27/15 | 6:11 PM CET

Zab

I’d be strained to write anything so positive as this article.
Kaczynski is surely a master of the reality transplant but
he will soon have big problems which won’t have been
organised by his opposition equivalents. He is already
poised to renege on his promise to help those with Swiss
loans. People will already be protesting about lack of
consultation about new edifices and nurses will be on
hunger strike. Soon he will be putting elderly teachers
out to pasture on inadequate pensions. Lets see how
he copes. Will he call out the militia?

Posted on 10/27/15 | 7:16 PM CET

Jacek Poltorak

In one paragraph the author stated that: “…according to people who know him, loyalty is paramount for Kaczynski…”and in the other he refers to an interview given by Kaczynski who clearly said that “…If Beata Szydło is a good prime minister, then she’ll rule for four years,..” and if not then “…the interest of Poland is what’s important…” Well at least this otherwise this article would be a creation of an image of the leader of PiS merely by relaying on words of these people whom Kaczynski once personally trusted (pp. Migalski,Zalewski) elevating them to the top positions within the party and parliament representation and who later abused that trust due only to theirs personal ambitions and interest…. It is quiet interesting that Mr Cienski could not find also some other people available for comment whose credibility would not be as easily questioned here.

Polish guy

Go where those others went to the dark boundary
for the golden fleece of nothingness your last prize

go upright among those who are on their knees
among those with their backs turned and those toppled in the dust

you were saved not in order to live
you have little time you must give testimony

be courageous when the mind deceives you be courageous
in the final account only this is important

and let your helpless Anger be like the sea
whenever you hear the voice of the insulted and beaten

let your sister Scorn not leave you
for the informers executioners cowards – they will win
they will go to your funeral with relief will throw a lump of earth
the woodborer will write your smoothed-over biography

and do not forgive truly it is not in your power
to forgive in the name of those betrayed at dawn

beware however of unnecessary pride
keep looking at your clown’s face in the mirror
repeat: I was called – weren’t there better ones than I

beware of dryness of heart love the morning spring
the bird with an unknown name the winter oak
light on a wall the splendour of the sky
they don’t need your warm breath
they are there to say: no one will console you

be vigilant – when the light on the mountains gives the sign- arise and go
as long as blood turns in the breast your dark star

repeat old incantations of humanity fables and legends
because this is how you will attain the good you will not attain
repeat great words repeat them stubbornly
like those crossing the desert who perished in the sand

and they will reward you with what they have at hand
with the whip of laughter with murder on a garbage heap

go because only in this way you will be admitted to the company of cold skulls
to the company of your ancestors: Gilgamesh Hector Roland
the defenders of the kingdom without limit and the city of ashes

Krzysztof Libera

Kaczynski or no Kaczynski, it doesn’t matter a diddly until the change comes from the people. And THAT is the hardest part. Poles in the way of thinking/culturally are so far behind e.g. Czechs and other peoples in Europe it would be foolish to expect anything major to take place here. The only viable option I’m afraid is to make war with the Germans, and surrender the following day. Let them take over, or put up with the status quo and keep the mouth shut. Sorry for being so blunt but I’m old enough to know what’s realistic or not.

Posted on 10/28/15 | 8:26 AM CET

Polish guy

…” Let them take over, or put up with the status quo and keep the mouth shut.
Mr Libera.Jewish last name.Haters Gonna Hate | Know Your Meme
Why you Jewish hate Polish people so much ?
How you would feel and your kin Polish haters if i advice Palestinian do to Jews what you preach German to do to Polish people ?
They just MURDERED 9 MILLION our Polish People.They murdered 2.5 million yours Jewish folks as well.
And you Jewish keep loving German.We Polish can’t understand that..

Posted on 10/28/15 | 2:49 PM CET

Krzysztof Libera

@ Polish guy.
Well, just so you know, I’m closer to being Chinese than Jewish, my last name is Latin, and I praise myself at not being brainwashed by Polish or any other government, society or church. And yes, I do think that under German government Poland could only gain, since as history shows, we apparently are unable to govern ourselves for some reason.
Lots of luck with another probably useless (unfortunately) government, and do not expect to much from them, perhaps with the exception of mandatory prayer hour at schools and places of work..

Posted on 10/28/15 | 3:50 PM CET

Polish guy

Mr.Libera..
Of course you are Jews ..in hiding.I/m just wondering why ?
You wrote: that under German government Poland could only gain, since as history shows, we apparently are unable to govern ourselves for some reason.”..
“We “? You are a Polish citizen and equivalently spelling out this absurd opinion or judgment implanted in your head by :German ? Russians ?Jewish Rabi ?Communist? Zionist ?
Trust me.WE (not you or you kin like) where,are & will be ,more than capable to govern our-self.
To speed up this process , first we have to ruth out, ignorants,idiots traitors from our society like you..

Posted on 10/28/15 | 5:42 PM CET

Krzysztof Libera

Well, I would be happy to continue this delightful conversation, but it just so happens that our IQ levels don’t seem to mach. By that I mean, yours being that of your body temperature (in centigrade).

Posted on 10/29/15 | 3:21 PM CET

Kara M. Bol

It’s fun to see the good old socialists-nationalists PiS party back in power. They started the takeover with gusto: illegal Constitutional Tribunal changes, illegal parden of a minister who is a convicted crook, installing the Smoleńsk Religion (conspiracy theory about an airliner crash) in the person of the most ardetn liar and manipulator A Macierewicz (minister of defense). The same old film, and we know how it’s gonna end — hope the rule of law & democracy will not be killed completely & can be later restored, at great cost. Also economy…